Thunder
by Carrot-Bunny
Summary: Sirius helps Remus face his fear of thunder. A Wolfstar oneshot for a rainy day. R/R.


Remus wrote the last line of his essay on the parchment and put down his quill. While reading through his work and checking for any spelling and punctuation errors, his eyes strayed to where Sirius lay on the table opposite him dozing soundly. He smiled as he remembered his friend declaring that he would accompany him in staying up to "make sure you don't die of excessive writing". Well, sleeping on the job was hardly going to help keep his friend alive. He turned to the window at the sounds of raindrops falling on the windowpane and saw that it was beginning to rain.

"Wake up, Padfoot." He gently nudged his friend with one hand while using the other to tidy up the table. "I'm already finished. We can go back to the dormitory now."

"What?" With a last snore, Sirius' eyes opened and he stretched his sore back. "About time too, Moony, I thought you'd never get it done."

"As opposed to you. You haven't even started at all." Suddenly a flash of lightning lit up the common room and a peal of thunder followed. The parchment and books in Remus' hands clattered onto the table. Sirius eyed his friend curiously. "Moony? You alright?"

Remus shook his head as if waking from a trance. "Just fine." He began to pick up the fallen things, only to let them slip out of his hands again when another peal of thunder sounded. The back of his hands started to tremble.

Sirius stood up and stared at his friend. "Are you sure you're alright?"

"I'm fine, really Padfoot." Just then a loud bang of thunder sounded and with a yelp, Remus dropped his things and dived under the table. Sirius bent down to see his friend curled up in a ball, trembling uncontrollably. "Moony? You're not _scared _of thunder, are you?"

"No." Another peal of thunder. "Yes."

Sirius sighed as he crawled under the table to join his friend. "Do you think you can hold it until we get back to the dormitory?"

Remus shook his head, and Sirius sighed again. "Fine. Looks like we'll be camping out here tonight." He sat down next to Remus and tucked in his legs so they would have enough room to sit together comfortably. The two of them sat together in silence, Remus trembling occasionally when more thunder came.

"It was raining the night I got bitten."

Sirius turned to look at Remus, who hadn't said anything until now. "What?"

"I never told you how I became a werewolf, did I?"

"No…"

"When I was a kid, my father offended the werewolf Fenrir Greyback. I forgot what the reason was. One night when I was sleeping in my room, he broke in through the window and attacked me. I only remember flashes of lightning everywhere, and thunder mingled with his mad laughter ringing in my ears. Then I felt a pain on my back, and next thing I knew I was in a hospital bed in St Mungo's."

"So that's where that scar on your back came from?"

"Funny you never figured it out in the four years we've been living in the same dormitory." Then Remus stopped talking and rested his head on his knees.

Sirius was silent for a moment. Then he suddenly thought of something. "Hey Moony, I think I might have a way to take away your fear of thunder."

"How?"

"First of all we need to get back to the dormitory. We'll need James' Invisibility Cloak and my broomstick."

"Huh?" Sirius ignored Remus' bewildered expression as he got out from under the table, stood up and offered a hand to his friend. "Come on. I promise this will work."

Several minutes later, Remus was beginning to have second thoughts about Sirius' plans. They were standing on top of the Astronomy Tower with only James' cloak to protect them from the pouring rain. The rain was so heavy that Remus could hardly see his own hand if he held it up in front of him. He watched as Sirius mounted his broomstick. "Sirius, what are you doing?"

"Just trust me. I promise we'll be fine." Sirius helped Remus mount the broomstick behind him, then got ready to take off. "Hold on tight!"

"Sirius, what -" Remus' stomach suddenly lurched as he felt the broomstick lift into the air. Both of his hands clutched Sirius' waist tightly as he tried not to look down. Sirius suddenly felt a warm feeling in his body, particularly around where Remus was holding onto his waist, but he brushed it aside and flew off the Astronomy Tower. The two of them soared into the thunderstorm, the rain pelting on their faces.

Lightning flashed in the sky, giving Remus the feeling his own life was flashing before his eyes. Then suddenly thunder roared all around them, and he clutched his friend's waist tighter as he yelped in fright. Sirius turned to look at his friend for a second before turning his attention back to steering the broomstick. "Don't just yelp like a little puppy, scream your fright out! That's how you'll overcome your fear!"

So Remus did what his friend told him to and screamed as loud as he could, his shouts mingling with the roaring thunder. Sirius laughed as the exhilaration of soaring through the air in a broomstick filled his whole body. They flew over the Hogwarts grounds for a while, then Sirius dived and they landed back on top of the Astronomy Tower.

On their way back, they used their wands to evaporate the rainwater on their soaked clothes. Using the Invisibility Cloak, they managed to get back to the dormitory without being seen. Once back, they immediately changed out of their wet clothes and Sirius put away his broomstick. He put James' Invisibility Cloak back to where it hung over his snoring best mate's bed and headed back to his own bed, which stood next to Remus'. The werewolf was already standing beside his bed, getting ready to go to sleep. Sirius grinned at him. "Think you feel better now?"

"I guess." Suddenly another bang of thunder sounded and Remus yelped in fright again.

"Oh, for the love of Merlin…" Sirius suddenly pulled Remus closer to him and pressed his lips to his friend's. When they broke apart, Remus could see a gleam in his friend's eyes, despite the exasperated expression he wore on his face. "_Now _do you think you can fall asleep?"

"Um…" Just then another peal of thunder sounded and Remus buried his face in Sirius' chest. "No."

"Oh, come on, how am I supposed to sleep with you clinging to my chest?" Though for some reason, Sirius didn't quite mind the idea at all.

"Padfoot, can I sleep in your bed tonight?" came a small muffled voice from Remus' hidden face.

Sirius sighed. "Fine." As another bang of thunder sounded, Remus dived under the covers of Sirius' bed and stayed there trembling. Sirius sighed again as he climbed into bed. "I wonder how your mother sleeps on stormy nights."

Remus' head peeked out from under the covers. "What does my mother have to do with my fear of thunder?"

"You mean you didn't ask to sleep with your mom when it rained in the middle of the night?"

"No, I just stayed awake the whole night until the storm subsided. Come to think of it, this will probably be the first time I can fall asleep in the middle of a storm."

"Huh." Sirius yawned and stretched his arms. "Well, all that flying has made me tired. We should go to sleep now."

"Okay." Remus readjusted his position so he was facing his friend. "Hey, Padfoot?"

"Yeah?"

"Thanks for everything." Remus snuggled closer to his friend and rested his head on Sirius' shoulder.

Sirius smiled and kissed Remus' forehead softly. "You're welcome." The two of them then fell asleep, oblivious to the thunderstorm outside as it slowly receded.

**A/N: I got the inspiration for this oneshot from a Harry Potter doujinshi I was reading online. In the original Sirius is the one who is scared of thunder, but I switched the roles partly because I thought Remus would fit better and partly because I didn't want to be accused of copying other people's work. By the way, I've just added some extra material to my other oneshot 'Chocoholic'; have you read it yet? As always, reviews are much appreciated! Love ya!**


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